Autumn Newsletter: A Season of Connection!
This is the Autumn ‘24 edition of a newsletter that everyone on the Adventure Oban mailing list receives at the start of every month. Fill in the very simple form at this link to sign up to get Adventure Oban news, updates and future plans straight to your inbox!
Summer has been and gone already, and we’re looking forward to slowing down and getting on with some big projects this Autumn and Winter. But first, let’s recap what’s been happening over the past few months!
Pedal Power Unites Community!
The Big Bike Weekend was back for its fourth edition in August. For our annual celebration of cycling, up to 300 folk came together across three days to wheel their way around various locations in Oban.
We had a great time at the mobile pump track on Friday night, which saw 150+ kids queuing up for the full 5 hours of the session, and demonstrated what a huge demand there is for a permanent facility like this.
Our volunteer ride leader Sam took groups of kids out on multiple rides throughout the day on Saturday. New trails were explored and everyone enjoyed getting out with new friends.
The fully booked Oban Kids Bike Event and Time Trial saw over 50 riders giving it their all on timed rides on Ganavan’s trails. It was clear that everyone enjoyed seeing the improvement on the trails from last year and were excited at the prospect of having fun and accessible trails to ride in Oban - thanks NATA!
We’d love to see this event back for a fifth year… but we need more help! Would you like to be part of the organising team? Let us know!
Bear Adventure Companions
Our bears are out on adventures with the pupils at Dunbeg, Park, Kilninver, Easdale and Rockfield primary schools!
The Adventure Oban bears are on a mission to inspire and encourage kids to get out and about on adventures. It’s not about how big the adventure is, but the fun you have on your journey! It’s great to see schools taking part and sharing what they’re up to with their peers.
Kilninver have been totting up the miles they’ve travelled and adding them to our totaliser! A miscommunication between our Development Coordinator Hannah and Miss Robinson, meant that the pupils were encouraged to run around to reach a distance of 2 miles. Miss Robinson thought miles were added per school activity… but we calculate on a per-person basis! So, multiply by the number of people, and that’s 72 miles travelled together in their recent school trips!
You can add as individual, but it’s more fun adding together as a school… Does your school have miles to add to the totaliser?
Meet our Active Travel Coordinator, Phil!
Phil is our newest member of the team, who has joined us to lead on our new project, Active Routes to Schools. Phil has been engaging with local schools and national organisations to find ways in which we can encourage young people to commute to school more actively, as well as make the area a safer, more enjoyable place to walk and wheel. Find out more about the project and what we’re doing via the article on our News page.
We’re working alongside LiveArgyll and Active Schools to help get more schools up and running with Bikeability. This essential course gives kids the important skills needed to feel confident on a bike and have good awareness of being on the road.
With the help of local bike mechanics, we’re able to run free Dr Bike sessions to ensure kids’ bikes are good to go. For those without a bike, we’re offering to gift them a secondhand bike so that they don’t miss out. Speak to your school to find out more, or reach out to us.
We’re also working to map out the routes which young people are using to get to school, to help build a clear idea of the barriers and enablers to active travel in our area. This information can highlight areas of improvement and help us inform local council or road companies of changes we’d like to see happen. We’d like to hear from both parents and children, so keep an eye out for information from your school, or reach out to us to set up a meeting.
An Inclusive Running Event
The Oban Trail 10K was Atlantis Leisure’s first running event in almost 10 years, and we had a great time bringing it back to life. We wanted this to be an inclusive, friendly and fun event for all, and that’s exactly what it was! With participants timed but no recognition for 1st, 2nd or 3rd, runners were greeted with big smiles, encouragement, raffle prizes and LOTS of cakes baked by our wonderful community! We’re looking forward to seeing more of this next year.
Training… and more training!
We’re improving our network of volunteers who can help improve Oban as a biking destination.
For more events like our lead rides and to increase the network of trails to ride here in Oban, we sent a few of our volunteers on training courses to improve their skills. 3 folk attended their ride leader training, with the intention to qualify in spring next year. Another 2 attended a DIRTT training course to learn how to be responsible trail builders, thanks to funding and support from Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland.
We’re so glad to be able to offer our volunteers great opportunities like these, so find out below how you can be a part of our community.
Our WhatsApp Community
If you’d like to be more involved with what we’re up to, join our WhatsApp Community! You can stay up-to-date with announcements and opportunities to volunteer with us. Communities differ to WhatsApp groups in that you can pick and choose which chats you’d like to join, or just keep an eye out for more volunteer-wide announcements.
As this year winds down, we’ve still got plenty in store for the next couple of months. Keep up to date via our socials, or watch out for our next seasonal newsletter!
Thank you for being a part of our journey so far.
See you outside!
Hannah, Phil, Ben, Isla, Iwan, Dave, Laura, Jane and Neil
The Adventure Oban Team
